This commission inquired into 49 complaints of
disappearances of persons from the Eastern Province. 46 of
these incidents had occurred outside the province. These complete
the inquiries into complaints from this Province which had been
handed to this Commission for inquiry.

Particulars of
complaints from Eastern Province

Disappearance
At

No.
Summoned

No. Absent

No.
Inquired

Anuradhapura

9

1

8

Polonnaruwa

19

8

11

Colombo

6

-

6

Kurunegala

1

1

-

Kandy

11

6

5

Batticaloa

3

0

3

Total

49

16

33*

A further analysis of the 33
complaints inquired into show that the number of disappearances
in the Eastern Province had reached its peak in 1990 (see chart
below.)

CHRONOLOGY OF
DISAPPEARANCES IN THE EASTERN PROVINCE

(Based on the 33 cases
inquired into)

Year

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

Total

No. Disapp.

4

5

17

3

-

1

2

1

33

Month

No.Disapp.

June

12

August

2

September

1

October

2

Total

17*

*One of these was already inquired by the
earlier Commission.

Break
up of the 33 complaints to the Disappearance of Persons from the
Easter Province

(When,
How many, By whom and Where)

*Already heard by the earlier
Commission

The Government of Sri Lanka
and the LTTE had entered into peace talks in 1990, the break down
of the talks in June, 1990 was followed by the LTTE attacks on
the Police Stations in the Eastern Province, Killing a large
number of policemen and abducting 600 who had disappeared
since. Twelve of the 17 disappearances during 1990 had
taken place in June 1990. From this the link between the
failure of peace the talks between the Government and the LTTE and
these disappearances is evident.

Another feature of the cases
inquired into from the Eastern Province was that these
disappearances had taken place at check points, of persons
detained or of those who had gone for work outside the Province.

A classification of the
persons allegedly responsible for the disappearances in this area
is set out below:

ALLEDGED PERSONS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE
DISAPPEARANCES IN THE EASTERN PROVINCE(of the 33 inquired)

*Already inquired by the
earlier Commission

The Citizens committee
of Batticaloa brought to the notice of the Commission a large
number of civilians who have disappeared from the Batticaloa
District about whom no complaints have been lodged to any
Commission yet. The witness added that of the time there
had been no institution in Batticaloa to which people could
complain except the Citizens Committee. He said the
Citizens Committee meets the army regularly and was able to
trace some missing persons in army custody after which persons
were safe from disappearance.

Disappearances at the Hands
of the Police

With the departure of the
IPKF in June, 1990 the Sri Lankan forces attempted to re-assert
its authority in the Eastern Province. Of the thirteen
incidents of disappearances which took place in June, 1990, ten
had been at Horowpothana, Nine of these complaints were inquired
into by this Commission. They occurred at the time of the
transition of authority.

Disappearances in June, 1990

The ten disappearances at
Horowpothana had occurred in the context of the detention by the
Horowpothana Police of persons who were on their way out of this
Province in a bus from Trincomalee.

At that time there was a
deterioration of the security situation in Trincomalee.

According to one witness.

 there was a
fear in Trincomalee that young boys are being taken by the army
because on 20th June (1990) three policemen were shot
dead by unknown gunmen at Madathady Junction, Trincomalee.

Another witness stated as
follows:

My brother worked as a
Restaurant Supervisor at Nilavely Beach Hotel. My elder
brother ..had received a letter through a tourist said to
have been written by my brother at Horowpothana Police Station in
June 1990. It states In Trinco problems
started. Day after day it increased. I thought it
will be over in a day or two but it was going from bad to
worse. So I decided to leave Nilaveli Beach Hotel and come
to Colombo. I waited for a chance all these days. On
21st all the Tourists who were staying at our Hotel
planned to leave for Colombo by bus. I too joined
them. When we reached Horowpothana we were stopped by the
Sri Lanka Army and taken to their custody. After proper
checking we were handed over to the Horowpothana Police
Station. Since 21st we were all staying at the
Police Station. But the tourists were asked to take another
bus and they left immediately. For the last 3 days I am at
the above station. Life is riskful. I am
scared. Please help me Yours, Brother in Christ.

This complainant brother of
the restaurant supervisor had contacted the Kotahena Police who
had checked with the OIC of the Horowpothana Police who had
confirmed the detention of the passengers in the said bus but had
stated that they had been released on 29.06.90. since the
corpus had not reached Colombo, an application for Habeas corpus
had been filed in Colombo and the army field answer in Courts
stating that they had handed over the passengers of the bus
concerned to the Horowpothana Police.